Isaiah 57:12

²You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones; ³who also eat the flesh of my people, and peel their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as meat within the cauldron. ⁴Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil.”

¹⁰As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one. ¹¹There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. ¹²They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”¹³“Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.”“The poison of vipers is under their lips.”¹⁴“Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood. ¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways. ¹⁷The way of peace, they haven’t known.”¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. ²⁰Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

¹³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

¹¹“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says the LORD. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. ¹²When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? ¹³Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations— I can’t stand evil assemblies. ¹⁴My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

⁴Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘The LORD’s temple, the LORD’s temple, the LORD’s temple, are these.’ ⁵For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; ⁶if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt, ⁷then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more. ⁸Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. ⁹Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations? ¹¹Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says the LORD.

⁶Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands. ⁷Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths. ⁸They don’t know the way of peace; and there is no justice in their ways. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace.

⁵But they do all their works to be seen by men. They make their phylacteriesbroad ^[+] and enlarge the fringes^[+] of their garments,

²Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments. They delight to draw near to God. ³‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers. ⁴Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high. ⁵Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? ⁶“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?

⁵You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time. Shall we be saved?

³He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations. ⁴I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them, because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn’t listen, but they did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.”